Slow iCloud photo syncing on iPhone despite sufficient battery, storage, and Wi-Fi

This is beyond frustrating particularly when you are a digital art creator, sometimes you are working on the same image but you are doing some relevant changes that may not be perceptible on the photos app until you open the image to continue working. Unfortunately, I need to check everytime if photos are synch because many times if I am working fast I have realized that I was working on an 10 images older version because my IPhone didn't synced to ICloud for over 1 hr because it is paused despite all the above-mentioned elements that do not justify the suspension of synching. I have 80% battery, latest IOS, no low power mode on, 60 GB free storage, 2100 mb Wi-Fi with only me connected, without or with plugged phone to a charger. And even if I select to continue synching sometimes has been taking 20 min or so to synch 1, 2 or 3 photos of about 8 mb. So there is no logic but a terrible bug that is beyond frustrating and Apple honestly doesn't care. Yet, the price for Apple One and have 2 TB for ICloud storage and used only 600 mb so far is surely too much for how slow it is. I get that AI is taking too much storage and fast processing, but until something gets better, prices should be more align to reality and the service Apple is providing to customers, as for now, AI, fast speed to sync with the cloud, etc, is in "pampers" for Apple but the prices they are charging is like a "son in college" alredy.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Synching photos to ICloud keeps pausing on Wi-Fi, latest IOS, no low power mode on, enough free storage and full battery

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Jun 28, 2025 01:19 PM

Reply
2 replies

Jun 29, 2025 07:43 AM in response to albertoc74

I want to repeat what Mac Jim ID said: what you are describing is not the way iCloud works.


It is true that if I edit a picture in Photos on my Mac, then the edit may take from a few seconds to a few minutes to appear on my iPhone. So if I now want to continue the editing on my iPhone instead of on the Mac, I may have to wait a bit. But, if I want to continue the editing on my iPhone, it doesn't matter at all what goes on with the Mac and iCloud.


So, if you can describe concisely and clearly exactly what you're doing, what buttons you push and so on, and what happens on your iPhone, without referring to iCloud, we might be able to help.


If you are switching devices, then I would suggest that you AirDrop the picture file from the phone to the Mac so you can work on it immediately. That's what most of us do in that case.

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Slow iCloud photo syncing on iPhone despite sufficient battery, storage, and Wi-Fi

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